Catcher in the Rye

The dilemma posed by Holden Caulfield in J. D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye is as timely today as it was in 1950s America. Holden is an adolescent who recognizes the phony nature of adult life and the dubious nature of the American Dream that prevailed in 1950s culture. Alienated, incapable of staying in boarding school and surrounded by what he views as superficiality in materialistic and humanistic aspects of New York culture. Holden Caulfield lives in a depressing and cynical world which he would like to rebel against, but the world is so superficial and cynical that until he truly transgresses the social norms of that cynical world he cannot see much point in rebelling against its overwhelming and institutionalized forces.

Culture in 1950s America pitted the Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver mentality of suburban America against a backdrop of increasing racial tension, the growth of psychoanalysis, the threat of nuclear war, the Korean War, the Communist paranoia spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy's communist witch hunts, rising prosperity and consumerism (materialism) and the House Un-American Activities Commission (HUAC) and the Federal Loyalty Boards. It is such a culture in which Holden exists. Holden has just been expelled from his fourth boarding school when his journey begins. He goes to New York, his hometown, and attempts to rekindle a series of past relationships. Eventual

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he first manuals of cool, a how-to guide for those who would detach themselves from the all-American pursuit of prosperity and bliss" (129). Holden and Salinger inform us on the very first page of the book that this is not going to be another typical tale of literature derived from the Dickensian model of poor, tortured childhoods. As Holden tells us at the outset: "IF YOU REALLY want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth...it bores me" (Salinger 1). Holden in this passage lets us see that he doesn't put much effort into things he finds pointless. None of the experiences of his childhood that he will reveal will change how things are in society. Holden tapped into the bored youth of 1950s America by more than just rebelling against corrupt and superficial adult existence. Salinger also tapped into the restless sexuality of American youth that was not yet the liberated culture of the 1960s. Holden believes adults have empty sexual encounters but he lives for love. He thin

Category: Literature - C